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When We Two Parted
Theme and Summary Summary: This poem is about a man who has been left by his beloved mistress. Though the reasons for her leaving is unknown, the mistress, at some point in time, was in love with the man. Eventually, however, she grew cold, and her love and passion for him disappeared. All alone, the man grieves over his loss, wondering to himself why this woman was so special to him, and imagines how he would greet her, should they happen to cross paths again. Theme: "When We Two Parted", a lyric poem by Lord George Byron, is a about a man grieving over the loss of the mistress he loved and cherished, and reveals the sorrow, despair, and depression one feels when their significant other no longer loves them. ''Literary Devices '''DICTION:' Byron’s use of emotional and connotative diction helps create a sullen, depressive tone that will appeal to the reader's own feelings to further their understanding of the poem. TONE: Due to his specific choice of words, Byron creates a sullen and also reflective tone. In the first two stanzas, the words "tears", "broken-hearted", and "sever" serve to emphasize the man's crushing loss of his partner, while in the third stanza, the man reveals that he isn't absolutely positive as to why this one woman meant so much to him, for he wonders to himself "Why wert thou so dear?" IMAGERY: The imagery used in this poem appeals more to the readers' senses of sight, sound, and touch than anything else. In the first stanza, the speaker reveals that when they parted, it was "in silence and tears", by adding this the reader can imagine both hearing and seeing the man cry as his mistress leaves him. In the same stanza the woman is described as becoming "pale" and "cold", making her seem cruel and unloving for not having any sort of emotion towards leaving him. In Lines 18-19 the speaker explains that hearing the woman's name is like a "knell" to his ear(knell is a bell that is rung during funerals, or at any time of death), this brings to light his true feelings: she is now dead to him because of what she's done. By saying this, the reader can fully understand just how devastating this experience was for him. ''Questions: '''2.) Does the poem use any sound devices-alliteration, onomatopoeia, consonance- to enrich the meaning of the poem?' In lines 5&6 Byron uses alliteration as a way to reinforce the fact that, when they parted, the woman was cold and unloving towards the man by stating that "Pale grew thy cheek and cold/colder thy kiss", the harsh repetition of the "K" sound in these line puts further emphasis on her harsh disregard to the man's feelings. 11.) What emotional response-mood- is the poet trying to evoke from the reader? By using morose and dismal words such as "broken-hearted," "silence and tears", "sorrow", "knell", and "grieve", Byron succeeds in trying to evoke a solemn, gloomy mood from the reader so that they will be able to understand the pain and suffering this man went through. 16.) Why is this poem considered a narrative, sonnet, elegy, ode, ballad or lyric poem? This poem is considered a lyric poem because it is a somewhat brief poem that is expressing the despondent and glum emotions of an incredibly heartbroken man, also, due to the rhyme scheme of the poem, when spoken aloud it comes off as song-like.